Improvement in cleansing and revivifying charcoal



N Nrrn 'Sterns eusravus A. JASPER, on cuantaSrowiv, nassacnuusnrrs. f l

lmpaovEMEN-r IN CLEANSING AN'.HEVIVIFYING'CHAaeoAL; l l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.147-,081 dated April 18,1865.

To all when@ it may concern:

Buit known that I, GUs'rAvUs A. JASPER, of

Charlestown, inthe county of Middlesex and' State ot Massachusetts, havemade a new and useful invention having reference to cleansing orrevivit'yin g the charcoal used-in filters for decolorizing andiiltering saecharine solutions or sirups v and'I do hereby declare thesame to be fully described in the following specification andrepresented in the accom'- panying drawings, of whicli- Y Figure 1 is afront elevation,I Fig. 2 a lon-l gitndinalseetion, and Fig. 3 atransversegsection, of the apparatus lused in carrying out my Yinvention.

After charcoal may have lost its power of' j decolorizing sugar-Sirup,ithasbcen customary to'washlt and Subsequently remove 1t from the filterto a'retort or kiln, andv therein rebnrn it iny order toidcstr'oy,theimpurtes..

which may have beencollected within it.

In carrying out my invention orimprove-- ment I cleanse the charcoalwhile in its place in thelter without removing it therefronn' and thus Inot only save -the loss caused by'` handling and breaking upthe charcoaland removing it to the oven orl kiln, but I also save the expense ofreburning it in the kiln be discharged directly into the'iilterbyopening thecock. of the pipe of such` cistern.j The ca'p I providewith a safety-valvaas shownat q. `There is a series of try-cocks', f fff, applied to one side of the lter, and ,l at various:

distances from its' top, in the manner'as shown inthe drawings, and,furthermore, there is la',

stop cock, g, at or near its top,.and. another, h, at or-near its bottomy, such bottom being.

.foraminous or perforated'with numerousfine holes. There is also adischarge-cock, ,Lap- 1 plied to the filter, the saidj cock being'arranged Y as represented in the drawings.' chambered l. pan or cap, C,is appliedy to the lower end ,of

the filter by flanges and screws and nuts',` and y has a toraminouspartition, sgextended across it horizontally, so as to form betweenthe'bottom r and such partition s' a chamber'or space," f

e, for holding the blanket or blankets, which in the common-filter areplaced directly onits A bottom, and. so that the oh'argeof charcoall mayrest immediately on the blanketV or seriesf` of blankets. Anescape-cock, @leads out-.of

the bottom of the vessel U.. Byfh'aving a blanket space or chamber, z,below the bottom e 1 l r ot' the lil.ter,and separate from the, charcoalSpace of the filter, an important advantage is gained, as it enables theblanket or, blankets to be removed, from the filter without first're". l

quiring' the charcoal charge to be taken out` ol' it. In fact, theseparate blanketphamber renders any disturbance of the charcoal charge.of the-filter. quite 'un necessary 'inorder to 'ef-` 1 feet the removalof the blanketfor the purfpose of being cleansed orotherwise'.

The exhaust-cock'h does not open out ol" the side' of the iilter, buthas a' pipe, h', ex s tending into' the lter and down toandso ``as' toopen through the bottom 1' and directlyinto the blanket-chamber.

z and from the bottom `rand through the side of the filter and up` tothebottom of the'watel tank or cistern F, such pipe opening outof 1 f thecistern and being provided withva stop-" cock, d, arra-ngedjnearthe'ilter.

The iilter 'may be furnished with a throat, D, for removal of itscharcoalwhen the same may benecessary, the mouth "of the throat' y lhaving a cover, E', secured on it inthe usualmanner, and, furthermore,the .filter may have f the usual pipe, u, leading. out -of its `lowerpart" vand extending up tojor ,above its top, suchY pipe being openatits'upper end, andfor the' escape of air duringjthe process offilling-the filter with Sirup..

,By connecting to thestop=cock` h an air-ex;

haust pump thewater and air amysbe" eX- -hausted fromithecharcoal beforethe Sirup is sui'ered to flow intoit [from the'cistern E.

.- 14 By xt'gndin'g the pipe jt through the side and: into' the interiorofthe lter, and thel'efdOW-n toendso ltoopenNin'to Vthe'`blanket-chamfl" l be?, tneiiuid fromthe 'cistern F priorit)`en` tering,the-charge of `the filter, will rst pass Y l' -into-jthelblanketchamberzand 'will xmtfform A pipe, t,leads utof thebianket-chamber lK@any cavity in the charcoal Vsuch as would be .likely to be'madeWerethe pipe to open into the side offthe'iilter.. The pipe h', extendedAfter the charcoal mayhave ceased to decolorize the sirup properly, therunning of the srup intol the filter should be stopped. The 'cocks b andc should beopened and the cap B bek removed from the filter, so as topermit ywater from the cistern F to pass into and 'through the charge ofthe filter.

have ceased to contain any saccharine matter, the .cocks b: and c shouldbe closed and the cocks d and c should be opened.`

- As the impurities er foreign matters to be removed fromv the charcoalcollect chiefly at or, near the top of it, the upper portion of thecharcoalsh'o'uld bestirred up' for 'the depth of about afoot, o-r tosuch a distance as may be' necessary to insure by the -cleansing processa thorough separation ofV the refuse matters from the filtering'medium.-

' In consequence of opening the cocks d and e, the Water from thecisternF will be caused to rush in aV reversed direction, or up and .throughthe mass of charcoal, and after it may have'been suffered to run'rlongenoughv the'two cocks d and e may be closedand the cock c may be openedandso as to allow the Water in the charge to pass off through such cock'cr' Next ythe cap'B should be restored l to .and fastened in its placeon-the filter, which l having been accomplished, the cock fq'shouldy beopened and a current of steam be introduced' into vthe lte'r throughsuch. cock g.

vThe steam Will expel through the cock'c the.

remainingwater as well-,as the Water which may condense. After theescaping steam may appear to be clean, the current of it may besuffered'to flow for someten minutes, more.

orvless, inorder-to insure a thorough vcleansing ofthe charcoal.Nexatheowage of the steam shouldbe arrestedaud the safety-valve shouldbeopened, in order to relieve the con-y tents of the filter fromatmospheric aswell as steam pressure'. The cap or cover B should ynextbe removed fromthelter andrthe char'- coaly again be Washed as 4beforewith clean water from the cister-n 'F1 v v vTo facilitate matters-,thepipes .p pf, instead of opening over the filter, may enter its sidejustfbelow the cap,in which easeit ,will'not beneeessaryv to remove vthecap except for chargingthe filter with charcoal whenever suchlrmayl bedesirable.

When theY water so used inrwashing the charcoal may Besides theabove-mentioned method of rcmoving impurities from the charcoal, it isnecessary occasionally. to tre-at it with a solution of muriatie oracetic acid, in order toremove from it or neutralize the li-me or alkaliabsorbed byit'from the'sugar.- This process may be performed in thefilter in the following u manner: After the first washing with water,and before steaming the charcoal, the water should be drawn through thecocks f f f j' and tested for the presence lof alkali. It will be.lfound, however, mostly near 'the topvof the charge. Next the acidsolution should be pouredy into the charge, enough being usedto'ncutralize the alkali, after which the acid solution should be drawnolf andthe charcoal be thoroughly washed by suffering clean water toflow through it, as before described'. The

steaming process should next be carried on in l mannerv as her'eiubeforeexplained.

I am aware that previous to my invention it has beencustomary to employsteam, water, and an acid for'thefpurpose-of rcvivfying charcoal uscd'infilters.. Y Therelore I. do not claim such.'v -They have not, however,been used with mechanism or apparatus and in the lmanner as hereinafterdescribed.l 'llie Washing of the charcoal. by reversed currents, in

combinationvwith the employment of steam of an acid solution, isbelieved to be-new. What I 'claim 'as my invention is as follows:

-l'. 'The washing o'r :cleansing of the charcoal within the filter byreversed currents of water and by steam applied to it, substantially ashereinbefore described, and in vcombination' therewith [claim theapplication`y of an-acid v solution, `substax'itially in the mannerfafndfor the purpose described.

'2. The combination and arrangement'of the separate blanket-chamber withthe filter, such chamber beingfso'applied to the'lter as to'j enablevthe blanket or blanketsto be removed from it without disturbance of -thecharcoal charge of the filter.

3. The application of the exhaust-cock'h and;

the pipe t, or either, to the sideof the filter and to itsblanket-chamber, substantially in manner as described.

y 4E#v The combination and arrangement of theev cistern- F, its pipes pt, and the dischargecocke with the lter A, the pipes'p and t,

having stop-cocks b and d, and the Wholebein g to operate substantiallyas described.

5. The ycombination* of the filter and apparatus, or .means of causingwater to iiow` through itin reversed direction, and a means. of applyingsteam to the lfilter` or the contents thereof `in mannjerand the VwholeAbeing for the purpose or objects as specified. e GUsrAvUs A. 'JAsrEitlWitnessesz- ."lti H. EDDY, v

FeEpERrcK Courts.

